Claws that Catch
by xt1me
Summary: The Winter Solider knew he wasn't a person. After all real people had dæmons.
1. Beware

_The chapter titels are from_ _the Jabberwock poem by Lewis Carroll solely because I could not think of a title for this.  
See end of story for notes._

* * *

Steve didn't bother to calculate the angle of return for the shield, just hurling it towards the Hydra solider to take him out of the fight. All his thoughts where on his friend that had just been knocked out of the moving train. Ignoring the downed enemy he scrambled to the edge.

"Bucky!" Steve yelled at the same time his phoenix dæmon yelled, "Elena!"

Steve's heart was in his throat as he spotted Bucky clinging to railing dangling over the empty space. His lioness dæmon had managed to grab the back of his jacket in her jaws but she had been dragged out by the force of the blow and was now more weight dragging him down. Her front claws were digging into his legs hard enough to draw blood as she desperately tried not to struggle as her human gripped the metal as hard as he could.

Climbing out the side of the carriage Steve yelled, "Hang on!"

His dæmon, Aideen, dived for Elena.

They never really managed to test how much she could carry or how fast she could fly but she had kept pace when they slid down to the train and she was desperate.

A harsh moan escaped the lioness' clenched jaws as the phoenix's talons dug into her back but she did nothing else as the flying dæmon franticly tried to drag her back into the train.

Steve stretched out as far as he could to Bucky, "Grab my hand".

A horrible metallic noise screeched and the raining gave way.

Bucky's screamed as gravity ripped him from both the train and his dæmon's grasp.

For one impossible moment Elena hung suspended in the air held only by Aideen as Bucky fell down into the icy gorge miles below. Steve barely had time for the terrible thought that he would have to watch his oldest friend's soul turn to Dust before his eyes when reality caught up and the lioness was torn from the phoenix's talons. No longer weighed down, Aideen was flung back into the train. The pain of her hitting the opposite wall paled in comparison to the numb horror that overtook Steve as the shape of his friends disappeared, out of view of even his enhanced eyesight.

Steve snapped awake.

He'd had this nightmare enough times that it wasn't a dramatic awaking anymore.

No leaping off the bed or screaming for Buckly. Not even any tears. He simply breathed deeply and tried to relax from the tense plank his body had become.

There was a sound of large flapping wings as Aideen landed on the bed next to him.

"I couldn't reach him," Steve whispered, "It was my fault."

"It was my fault they couldn't even die together." She replied.


	2. Jaws that bite

The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Divisionheld many secrets, some of them even the secret keepers themselves didn't know. Now all those secrets had just been sent out into the open.

So Shield was bought down to bring Hydra down.

The Triskelion building likewise had many secrets. Some Shield's, some Hydra's. But now the building was collapsing. Like the organisation it had housed, it was ending in a most dramatic fashion.

But there was one place deep within it that had been forgotten.

A simple storage room. Officially it didn't exist. _Unofficially_ it didn't exist. If anyone had ever passed it on a normal day their dæmons may have felt uneasy but not enough to notice in a place that protected the world from it secrets.

But now it was empty. Everyone long since fled. Steel and concrete were not enough to protect this place from the rest of the building's collapse. At least not completely.

In the room there was a box. A cage. If there was anyone there they could have looked inside it and noticed claw marks. Anyone looking closer may have noticed that anything making such marks would have needed years to leave so many on steel.

But before all that they might have noticed that it had been cracked open.

And that it was empty


	3. Sword in hand

He wasn't going back.

He had left the former mission target at the river bank once he was sure he was breathing. He had left and headed away from the destruction. Away from the rendezvous point. Away from any safe house he had been briefed on.

He wasn't going back.

He wasn't supposed to do this.

He was a weapon.

He was their tool.

They had made him to be the perfect asset.

They had made him to destroy their enemies.

They had made him.

He knew he wasn't human, after all humans had dæmons.

But the man had looked at him like he was a person.

He said he knew him. Said he had a name.

They told him he was protecting the world.

They lied.

He didn't know why but he felt that it was a thought he had before.

It wasn't a memory. Memories were smeared blurs with jagged edges that slipped loosely in his mind.

But he knew things.

Not just skills without context for completing a mission.

He knew they lied. He knew that man. He knew he had to get away.

But he knew it wasn't going to be easy.

He couldn't get any clear memories from the jumbled mess in his mind but he could feel the edges.

He had tried to escape before.

It was something he only realised now but he knew he had done it.

Just like he knew that he had failed.

He didn't know when or how many times but they always got him back and he was punished.

They always knew he was alive.

They always knew he would return eventually.

He could feel it even now.

That pull. The tug on something that if he was human he might call his soul.

And while he had no clear memory of doing so before, he knew it would only be a matter of time before he gave into that tug and followed it back to them.

No matter how hard he tried not to.

But something was different.

Always before, though how long 'always' was he did not know, the tug stayed stationary. Always pulling in one direction, one place. Usually to headquarters, sometimes to a base or a storage place. But it didn't move. He always had to go to it, though he never saw what it was that pulled him.

But, as he found a place out of the way to lay low, now it felt like it was coming to him.

He waited, having no clear idea what to do.

Fear and confusion were at least familiar. But he refused to give up. He was not going to go back.

Not without a fight.

He scanned the perimeter but there was no trace of a response team. No one was around at all. But it was getting closer.

He prepared himself for an attack.

It burst into his hideout without warning.

A non-humanoid creature with vicious looking teeth and large claws. It didn't look like any natural animal but he didn't hesitate. They had done many experiments, he was only the most successful. He launched himself at it as it rushed towards him.

His metal fist stuck the side of it's head but it was only a glancing blow as it twisted aside. He managed to dodge the sharp talons as it lashed out but not it's fast tail and was knocked back. Rolling quickly he was on his feet too fast for it to press an advantage.

The first strike was over almost as soon as it began with no clear winner. The two opponents stared, each assessing the other.

He looked into the creature's eyes trying to judge it's intelligent. It was fast and strong. It was also smart enough to use the first volley as he had, to measure the enemy.

It was about as tall as he was, standing on it's two back legs and balanced by a long sinewy tail. It's claws were long but the most noticeable were the two great curved talons, one on each foot. It's sharp teeth were clearly visible in a silent snarl and it's eyes were an amber yellow like a reptile or a bird of prey.

But the eyes, though alien, seemed to be as wild and confused as his were.

He felt a sudden swell of pity. The creature was obviously another they had twisted and ruined. But he wasn't going to let that pity stop him. He wasn't going back.

The creature seemed to sense his resolve as it attacked at the same time.

Curved claws were just a hair too slow to disembowel as he got in close. He defended with his metal arm to block the jaws that tried to tear out his throat. He aimed for a possible weak spot and struck a mighty punch with his other fist.

The two combatants froze, stunned.

Barely able to believe what he was doing the soldier slowly, carefully, reached out with his flesh hand and touched the creature gently.

It was almost like getting shot except it wasn't pain he felt. It was like something suddenly snapped back into place. It was like the feeling he had when he recognised his last target times a thousand.

He knew her.

They both collapsed on the floor tension leaving them completely.

Curled around each other he asked hesitantly, "El?"

"Bucky," his dæmon whispered back


	4. Has thou slain?

Steve had taken advantage of the fact that it was only him and Sam and managed to arrive at the place that intel had determined Bucky was before anyone else.

He was both hoping and dreading meeting his best friend again but when he entered the apartment it was empty.

At first glance there was nothing to show who lived there.

Steve picked up one of the notebooks and opened it. His own face stared back as a flyer for the Captain America exhibit in the Smithsonian was used as a bookmark. He couldn't help but feel relived as he saw Bucky's familiar scrawl on the page.

Sam's voice came though loud and clear from his earpiece, "Heads up Cap. German special forces approaching from the south."

"Understood," He acknowledge still looking in the book.

Aideen few in and landed on the counter next to Steve, silently letting him know that Bucky was now behind him.

Steve turned to face his friend for the first time since DC.

Bucky was looking at him silently so Steve asked, "Do you know me?"

There was a pause before the other man answered, "You're Steve." He glanced at the notebook Steve still had in his hand and added, "I read about you in a museum."

Sam's voice came through the radio again, "They've set the perimeter."

It was time to speed this up, he had to get Bucky to come with him.

Steve placed the notebook on the counter next to Aideen and moved towards his friend, "I know you're nervous," he stopped moving as Bucky seemed like he was about to run and tried to pin him with a look, "and you have plenty of reason to be. But you're lying."

"I'm not him," Bucky said softly, "My dæmon-" he trailed off.

"You're not severed," said Steve. Natasha had told him that rumour about the Winter Solider but he had seen a few unfortunate souls that had been during the war. Most had faded and died no matter what anyone could do but they were all flat somehow. Steve had known as soon as he fought the Solider on the freeway that it wasn't the case with him.

"You must just be separated. If you haven't fond her we can-" Steve stopped as a flat pallet of wood that was leaning against a wall moved. It had been hiding a hole that led into the next apartment. A large sinewy body slinked into the room.

"James Barnes' dæmon was a lioness." Bucky stated flatly.

Steve almost smiled, of course the guy who would drag him to science fairs wouldn't get a mythical dæmon, he had to get dinosaur instead.

"Aideen used to be a harpy eagle and I'm pretty sure Schmidt had some sort of lizard before it became a hydra."Steve explained, "It's the serum. I thought she looked a littler different after Azzano but I put it down to seeing properly for the first time."

Aideen had her own way of trying to get though to her friend and flew over to the velociraptor. "Elena," she said, just inch away from the bigger dæmon, "we've missed you."

Bucky looked at the two and then back to Steve. "I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore."

Sam's voice piped up reminding him of the problem, "They're entering the building."

Steve he had to get Bucky to come with him before they arrived so he moved slowly closer, "Well, the people who think you did are coming here now." He stopped as he saw Bucky swallow nervously but continued talking, "And they're not planning on taking you alive."

Bucky just looked resigned, "That's smart. Good strategy."

Sound of movement came from above as Sam reported in, "They're on the roof, I'm compromised."

Elena dashed back though the hole to the other apartment, turning only to move back the wood covering it. Aideen took to the air but didn't try to follow.

The sound of movement could be heard coming up the stairs.

Steve tried to stop what he could see coming, "This doesn't have to end in a fight Buck."

He could hear them outside the door but Bucky only sighed, "It always ends in a fight."

"Five seconds," Sam warned.

Steve tried one last time, "You pulled me from the river," he watched as Bucky took off the glove on his left arm revealing the metal hand, "Why."

Bucky looked at him, "I don't know."

Sam announced, "3 seconds."

Steve looked Bucky directly in the eyes "Yes you do."

Suddenly all hell broke loose as Sam yelled, "Breach, breach, breach!"

A smoke bomb came crashing thought the window.

He had run out of time, it was too late.

* * *

End Notes:

* * *

Bucky gets captured but Elena doesn't as there's no record of the Winter Solider having a dæmon. The movie plays out the same but they pick up the dinosaur before going to Wakanda.

It's a pity I couldn't fit in more rumours about the Winter Solider. Like how his dæmon is actually in his arm and that's what's powering it (kind of like the ghost story told to Lyra in the books only they were powering the lungs). Or that he's actually an Armoured Bear that sold his arm to a witch to be turned into a human and is arm is his armour re-forged. (because Buck Bear).

Also in my head but could fit nowhere in the story is the fact that Natasha is separated from her dæmon. When the girls in the Red Room settled and so lost that advantage in spying they were brought to a secret place in the Russian wilderness that had been struck by a meteor that dæmons couldn't enter. So like the witches in the book they had to cross it.

This was based on a prompt by tigriswolf ages ago:

 _"Bucky Barnes' daemon was an African lioness. She jumped after him from the train._

 _The Winter Soldier has never met his daemon; he does not even know what daemons are. But she terrifies Hydra in a way nothing ever has because she is either a_

 _deinonychus or a utahraptor, author's preference. She shifted the moment Bucky Barnes died and the Winter Soldier/asset was born from his corpse. The only reason Hydra hasn't destroyed her is because they want to see if they can replicate whatever let her shift._

 _They really should have destroyed her. Because when the asset pulls Steve Rogers out of the Potomac, his daemon escapes Hydra (after slaughtering everyone in the facility) and goes to find her person._

 _What happens next? No idea. I'd prefer, though, that she doesn't change back to being a lioness."_

I didn't exactly fill the prompt but it's been sitting there unfilled for ages and I meant to do something with it for a while now. I finally got around to it.

Steve's dæmon was a harpy eagle before it became a phoenix during project rebirth.

I picked it because it's one of the world's biggest eagles. It's also the base for the phoenix Falkes in the Harry Potter movies.

Aideen (pronounced ay-deen) is an Irish name which means 'little fire'.

Bucky dæmon was a female barbary lion rather then just an African because I wanted to go with angst and they became extinct from the wild around the 1940's.

Technically she turned into an Achillobator as velociraptor's were actually pretty small, about the size of a turkey.

(I changed it from the prompt of a utahraptor simply because of the size. But she could be a small utahraptor instead)

Steve would call her a velociraptor as I doubt he would be up to date on his palaeontology knowledge but has probably seen Jurassic Park by now.

I purposely did not mention feathers or scales as some people have very strong opinions about dinosaurs but since the serum turns dæmons into mythical creatures it doesn't really matter.

I wanted a Romanian name (because Sebastian Stan) but Elena is also Russian as well as Italian, Spanish, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovak, Lithuanian, German and medieval Slavic. It's probably because it's a cognate of Helen. It means 'light'.


End file.
